From the UK: More Boys Failing GSCE
The results for the record exams revealed that more teen boys were failing. While a smaller number of teenage boys were given A*, an average of one out of four teenage girls have gotten an A* in the recent record exams. This was the widest gap in scoring since the exam was first introduced 17 years ago.
Education experts are alarmed by the dropping scores of the boys because this may leave them without the much needed skills which would enable them to reach their goals in life. In English, the course with the biggest grade difference between the genders, 73% of girls scored A8 to C, but only 59% of boys passed the exam. The exam results only show that about 23% of takers scored an A* and that girls are now taking up subjects that are ‘traditionally male’ and were moving in much quicker pace compared to boys, academically speaking. According to Professor Alan Smithers, “It is a truly enormous gap in English and it is really very alarming. It is a poor reflection on us as educators. We are failing boys in English. We are not giving them the necessary understanding to get as much out of life as they could.” The cut coursework was blamed for assisting the girls ace their GCSEs in the past. It was known that the gender gap was only 3% when the A* was initially introduced. AQA Exam Board CE Andrew Hall finally said, “It’s fascinating. In A-levels we were very clear that boys were narrowing the gap. But at GCSE it is going absolutely the other way.”